What is Adrenal Fatigue and Do I Have It?

Considered the “stress syndrome” of the 20th century, adrenal fatigue is still an under-diagnosed and little understood condition. More people than ever before are battling with chronically depleted adrenal glands, yet it is unrecognized by most doctors.

Perhaps you have struggled for a long time with always being tired, for reasons you just can’t quite understand. Maybe several years of stressful circumstance after stressful circumstance have left you frequently sick, irritable, worn out or depressed. You might have pushed yourself physically too hard for too long, and found yourself suddenly unable to push anymore, your reserves completely drained.

What Do the Adrenal Glands Do?

Your adrenal glands are two small glands that sit on top of your kidneys, and they are part of the endocrine system (which manages hormones). Their job?To regulate your stress hormones, primarily adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline’s job is to give us increased focus and stamina to deal with sudden situations that require our full attention and effort. Think fight or flight response.

Cortisol’s job is to convert protein into energy, to give us that extra boost for the situation at hand. It does this by converting our body’s stored sugar, glycogen, which fuels and supports the adrenaline response. The adrenal glands also play a role in balancing blood sugar and maintaing the correct electrolyte balance of salt/water for proper cellular function.

Significant and/or prolonged stress on the adrenal glands causes them to continuously release adrenaline and cortisol. This happens when we consistently push ourselves to work past the point of fatigue, when we try to cash in on our body’s “extra” energy by using stimulants like caffeine and sugar, when we deal with acute or recurring illnesses, when we experience a string of stressful situations (pregnancy/birth, loss of loved ones, moving, financial strain, job loss, natural disasters, etc.), when we fail to heed our body’s signals that it is worn out and needs some TLC.

Defining Adrenal Fatigue

To try to cope with these stressors and strains on the body, our adrenal glands faithfully pump out extra energy to us. Think of it like a bank account, with a sizeable amount of money set aside for emergency savings. Each time you run into a minor financial difficulty, however (a blown tire, extra groceries because you went over budget, a large cell phone bill), you dip in just a little.

The fund wasn’t intended to see you through the constant stream of regular, daily life. Without being added to or replenished, it will only sustain these constant withdrawals for so long. When your husband suddenly loses his job in a down economy, or when tragedy strikes and you become seriously ill without insurance, suddenly that money is gone and unable to cover the circumstances it was intended for.

Simply put, adrenal fatigue occurs when our adrenal glands have been drained through constant “withdrawals”, without being replenished. They become depleted, empty, and unable to help us when we need them most.

Why is adrenal fatigue becoming so prevalent? I liked many of the explanations in this post of the reasons why adrenal fatigue develops. To this list I would also add uncontrollable stressful situations (illness, loss, etc.), and long-term undiagnosed food allergies or sensitivities (often to the very foods that you most love and crave).

Levels of Fatigue

Not all cases of adrenal fatigue are equal. You can deplete your adrenals mildy, causing some signs and symptoms that slow you down a little, but nothing that cannot be recovered through some lifestyle changes.

More prolonged depletion can result in moderate adrenal fatigue, which often consists of more serious and debilitating symptoms including extreme fatigue, depression, frequent illnesses, an inability to cope with stressful situations, hormone imbalance and more. Recovery is certainly possible, but it will take longer, and require more purposeful changes and treatments.

Severe adrenal fatigue (sometimes called adrenal exhaustion) is when they adrenals reach the point where they are barely functioning at all. For many, this means that they can hardly get out of bed or make it through the day. Everything takes herculean efforts and recovery can take many years and much, much effort, usually with the help of a trained specialist (like a naturopathic doctor).

Do I Have Adrenal Fatigue?

Here are some common symtoms of adrenal fatigue:

Insomnia (many feel very alert or find that their heart pounds even when they are tired and lying down)

Weight gain, especially around the middle

Depression and/or irritability

Hair loss

Acne

Reliance on stimulants like caffeine

Cravings for carbohydrates or sugars

Cravings for salt

Low immune function and slow recovery from illness, injury or stress

Intolerance to cold

Decreased sex drive

Lightheadedness and low-blood pressure

Brain fog, or having trouble concentrating or remembering things

For women, increased PMS symptoms or cycle irregularities

Sadly, adrenal fatigue is not recognized by most conventional medical doctors. So how do you know if you truly have adrenal fatigue? A good naturopathic doctor will usually be able to do more specific tests and assessing to determine whether you do have some level of adrenal depletion.

Another way to learn more is through some of the excellent books out on the topic. I don’t always like to rely on self-diagnosis, but if you can’t afford to see an alternative specialist or don’t have access to one in your area, these books have extensive questionnaires (much more in depth than my list of symptoms above) that will help you to not only determine if this is what you are dealing with, but will also help you to determine the severity of your condition. I used the questionnaires in both Tired of Being Tired and Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome to reach a very similar diagnosis of moderate adrenal fatigue.

It is important to note that not everyone who has these symptoms has adrenal fatigue. Much as it is becoming more common, each person and each body is different, and sometimes symptoms can be the result of simple lifestyle choices or they could also be an indicator of other, more serious illness. If you suspect something is wrong, it is always best to see a health practitioner who can perform proper diagnostic tests rather than simply self-treating.

In the second post on adrenal fatigue (coming later this week), I will address some ways to treat it and give you some resources as well!

Does anyone else have experience dealing with adrenal fatigue?

Disclaimer: I am not a certified medical professional of any kind and am not qualified to give you medical advice, to diagnose any illness or prescribe treatment. My goal is to help to educate and inspire you to take responsibility for your own family’s health and make informed choices of your own, not to consult you on medical treatment.

Stephanie Langford has a passion for sharing ideas and information for homemakers who want to make healthy changes in their homes, and carefully steward all that they've been given. She has written three books geared to helping families live more naturally and eat real, whole foods, without being overwhelmed, without going broke and with simple meal planning. She is the creator of Keeper of the Home.

49 thoughts on “What is Adrenal Fatigue and Do I Have It?”

This is what I think I have. Some days I feel like I am barely hanging on, and am a slave to it. I don’t feel normal, and I never make plans because I don’t have any energy. Great article on what it is, would love to see what is recommended to help combat it. I have some ideas as I just consulted with a good Dr.

I had the west nile virus when I was seven years old –that knocked me out for a good nine months. My body has never really been the same since. My family has a large history of auto-immune disorders as well, and those two things, coupled with a stress-packed childhood ruined my adrenals, I think.

I have always had: sensitivity to sunlight (being exposed very long makes me nauseous), terrible joint pain, endless fatigue, that bit of weight gain around the middle (not anything substantial, I’m 5’1″, and weighed at my highest 118lbs. But this was highly frustrating, as I was very actively pursuing ballet, and I couldn’t get rid of those extra ten pounds for anything, it seemed), and a host of other random things.
I am so grateful that Jesus gave me the mom He did; she has tenaciously researched my every symptom, and prayed me through so much. About a month ago, — WHAM — the panic attacks hit me with a vengeance. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Absolutely vile. They start every night around 6 pm, and stretch on until I can somehow sleep. The only thing that helps is reading articles like this, to remind myself that I am not losing my mind, but am, in fact, struggling to heal an organ (Truth does indeed set one free!). People who suggest things like, “thing positively, manage your fears, reason them away”, have no experience with AF. You can’t reason away a physical disease.

For any who have struggled with panic attacks, I would strongly suggest looking up STTM (Stop the Thyroid Madness). The resources there helped me immensely; they also have connections to doctors who will actually listen to you –not just refer you to a psychiatrist.

Each day is a journey of pressing in to Jesus, and waiting on Him, and trusting Him when my body tells me that I’m dying, and nothing will ever change. Thanks so much for writing this! Resources like this are critical. I’m not sure where I’d be right now if I hadn’t discovered things like it.
~Haley

Hello Im Joe and having the same experiences.I have a stressful relationship with a partner my adrenals crashed about 4 weeks ago, I am still in bed. There are days I feel great then I crash really hard,my doc says I may have to take the meds for life, if they Dont recover.Does anyone know what I can take to help this sickness vitamins foods etc..please help I am 37 years old its holding me back for life.

Hello, I just came across this article after doing a search and I can tell you 100% Adrenal Depletion is real… I suffer from this and am getting help finally but Doctors continually say for over three years that all my bloodwork is fine. My herbalist is the only one who has been able to help me and could say just by listening to me – Oh yeah I know what’s wrong with you. I plan to start a blog on my road to recovery as soon as I have a bit more time and more natural energy.

Hi Stephanie, I googled adrenal fatigue and got your wonderful article. I’m also a lover of Jesus and and committed to my family and husband. I’ve also had an interest in writing a money making blog. Can you or others who see my address email me and let me know how to start?? Thanks again from Siobhain who’s going to get 10 hrs of sleep tonight to catch up!

I haven’t officially been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, but I know that’s what I have. Two years ago I started having horrible, disabling panic attacks (vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, hot and cold flashes, lightheadedness, etc). I ended up in the ER twice because the first night when the panic attacks started they didn’t diagnose me with anything, they just thought I was dehydrated – which sounded nuts since it was an unusually mild week in August with temps in the 70s. So the second night in the ER they gave me Xanax and said something about stress. We left for vacation the following week and I took the Xanax every night to help me calm down and fall asleep. Well, as the months went on I knew something else was going on. The panic attacks were only happening at night or when I was more physically active. I switched doctors (because mine wasn’t listening to me) and requested testing for everything I could think of that was in my family and could be attributing to the symptoms – hyperthyroid, pheocromocytoma (a rare adrenal tumor that my father had), stress tests. You name it, I had it checked. I then came across adrenal fatigue about 18 months ago while looking up stress and panic attacks online. I went to my regular doctor to have my cortisol checked because I was convinced that I had adrenal fatigue. Well, he said my cortisol level was fine ( he only checked the morning level) and I went on my way thinking I was just overly stressing myself and having panic attacks. So fast forward to this August. I had been feeling better for about March 2012. I had even started running and completed four 5K runs. We were on vacation and I became extremely stressed about some things that happened during our vacation. Like ‘old me’ I held onto the stress for weeks after vacation ended. Then a few weeks later the horrible panic attacks returned, set off by a 30 minute run that morning and painting a section of my living room wall. So I then try to rest and ignore the horrible physical symptoms I am experiencing again. I keep running and complete a 6.5 mile run. The next day the panic attacks and symptoms feel awful. I am then completely wiped out for the next week. I did another 5K a few weeks later and that was it. I couldn’t do anything. I found a naturopathic doctor and when I went to see her one of the things she said was that I had adrenal fatigue. I couldn’t believe it! I ACTUALLY had the thing I KNEW I had a year and a half ago. What was most damaging about being misdiagnosed with Anxiety/Panic Attacks is that I wasn’t resting when I felt off. I was trying to push through it and ignore the symptoms. I am SO very thankful to now know what is going on with me. It has truly been an answer to prayer. If I can tell anyone anything, it’s that YOU KNOW YOUR BODY! I knew something else was going on but sometimes it’s hard when the doctors keep telling you you’re perfectly healthy. And definitely find a good naturopathic/homeopathic doctor to have in addition to a regular MD. Two years later, and I am finally on my way to healing. :)

Hi,
I am curious on your thoughts. I have a client who is on medicine for narcolepsy because she sleeps way too long and too much.
She has gained weight, always stressed, acne, etc.
She started an elimination diet last week of wheat, dairy and sugar. Wheat being the biggest one since she pretty much was down to zero on the other two.
I recognize that when one does a diet like this, one is going to experience fatigue due to food withdrawals and detoxing. However, her fatigue is triple the normal person and all she wants to do it sleep.
I am wondering if she has adrenal fatigue and should recommend she get tested.
I recognize you are not a medical person, just getting different opinions.
Thanks.

You’re right, I’m really not sure what to suggest. It could be related to adrenal fatigue, but that could absolutely also be detoxing symptoms, thyroid related, hormone imbalance, etc. It’s just so hard to even have an idea without knowing much more about her medical history, but I wouldn’t’ want to even attempt to “diagnosis”. She should really see a naturopathic doctor, if possible, because they’ll do a much better just of pinpointing her symptoms.

Great post! I’ve done quite a bit of reading about adrenal fatigue myself. I found Marcelle Pick’s books, “Are You Tired and Wired?” and “The Core Balance Diet”, particularly helpful and informative. She is the co-founder of Women to Women, a clinic in Yarmouth, Maine that does a lot of work helping women with adrenal fatigue and imbalance.

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